Yamaha DKC-850 Control Unit Provides New Features to Older Disklavier Models

Yamaha Corporation of America today announced that the DKC-850 Control Unit for the company's popular line of Disklavier reproducing pianos is now shipping.

Owners of older Mark III and Mark IIXG Disklaviers can simply swap the existing control unit on their instrument with the sleek, new module, and immediately enjoy many of the exciting new features of the current Disklavier E3 Series, including:

DisklavierRadio, an unlimited, subscription-based service that lets users listen to hundreds of fully orchestrated songs streamed over the Internet, which are then performed "live" on the Disklavier.

Video Sync, which allows a performance to be recorded on both the Disklavier and a video camera, then viewed back on a TV screen while the Disklavier simultaneously recreates the original piano performance.

Audio CD Sync, which gives the piano the ability to play along with favorite audio CDs.

Storage of floppy disk data on the DKC-850 (with optional USB floppy disk drive), which allows for the creation of and direct access to performance libraries, and eliminates the need to swap floppy disks.

The DKC-850 control unit boasts 128 MB of music storage capacity, which can be filled with hundreds of PianoSoft performances that can be played back at the touch of a button on the unit's infrared remote control. In addition, the DKC-850 comes with a CD containing 460 song selections in 13 categories that can easily be transferred into the DKC-850 memory, for a total of 17 hours of music that can be enjoyed right out of the box.

The control unit also includes enhanced playback and record features, including timer playback and SmartKey playback (on select models).

"We wanted to offer Disklavier owners a highly cost-effective way to obtain many of the recent innovations found in our newer models without them having to give up their fine instrument that they know and love," said Jim Levesque, Yamaha Disklavier Marketing Manager. "It's like getting a brand new instrument and performance experience."

The new DKC-850 is shipping immediately and will be available through Yamaha Authorized Keyboard Dealers nationwide. The unit also includes: 676 XG instrument voices; 21 sets of drum voices; Metronome function; Compatibility with PianoSoft, PianoSoft Plus, Smart PianoSoft and SmartKey (only models compatible with guided playback).